


We are better

by EspejoNight28738



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Human, Friendship, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Torture, Minor Character Death, Multi, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-07-16 08:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16082114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EspejoNight28738/pseuds/EspejoNight28738
Summary: New country, new language, new friends,Celty was ready to leave that horrible accident behind.If only any of those things were true.





	1. Book of Childhood: Finding Each Other

“Are you ready, sweetheart?” asked Celty’s mother before the girl left the car.

[Yes, mother, thank you.] Wrote Celty in response in her little white board she always carried.    
   
“Don’t worry about anything, Celty. I’m sure you´ll do lots of friends. Just remember this isn’t like your old school, not everyone will be… adequate company to a lady like you. Be careful with whom you associate, you already met a lot of suitable children over the summer.”   
   
Celty didn’t want to tell her mother that she would never be “compatible” with Erika or Walker, they were… not really her type of people. Not to talk about Namie, she frightened Celty.

[I’ll be careful, mother.]   
   
And with that, Eliza said goodbye to her daughter and saw the girl entering the school, before ordering the driver to take her to her meeting.   
   
This school was smaller than her previous one, but that didn’t stop Celty from feeling slightly intimidated. Being knew in the school when classes had started two weeks ago, and in a foreign country with a foreign language she was still not used to, what if someone made fun of her?    
   
She had never had problems in her old school, but that was before the accident, now she couldn’t pass like a normal girl. Her breathing started to be faster and faster.   
   
She took her time to arrive to the classroom and when she was finally there everyone, including the teacher, were already in their places. She could feel all those eyes staring at her.   
   
Staring at the bandages on her neck.

“Okay class, today a new classmate will be joining us. She arrived a few months ago from Europe, but she hadn’t passed her Japanese exam until last Friday, so only now she could integrate. I hope you all will be very supportive and help her getting use to the school. Now, Celty-chan, could you please introduce yourself?”

She nodded and started writing with her hands shacking because of the nerves her introduction. She was so glad when she didn’t forget any kanji in the heat of the moment.

[Hello! My name is Celty, I’m 10 years old. I hope we can be good friends.]

A few murmurs of “hello” could be heard in the room, but fortunately no one asked about her lack of voice. Or her neck.   
She saw Namie in the back of the classroom and prayed in her head she wouldn’t have to sit next to her.

“Well, anyone wants to offer help to your new classmate getting to know the school?”

Only one hand was raised. It was from a boy Celty hadn’t seen. She didn’t know him, but there was this…strange feeling she had when she saw him, like she already knew him. And for the intense way he was looking at her, she had a feeling he thought the same of her.

“Okay” said with resignation the teacher, she didn’t seem to like the idea. “Celty-chan, please go sit next to Shinra-kun.”

Celty did as she was told and walked to the chair next to the boy. Before she could write a greeting, he started talking just silently enough to let the teacher start her class.   
   
“Hello, I’m Shinra. You don’t have the use the honorific, you don’t use those in Scotland, right? Oh, but you haven’t told me you come from there yet, sorry, a friend was told about you from his parents. Don’t worry about the class, we haven’t seen anything yet, and I can help you with anything you don’t understand. I want to be a doctor, so I must have good grades.”

Celty was still in shock when he stopped talking. She had to take a moment before starting to think about a response.   
No one had ever talked to her so much in less than a minute. And there were some parts she wasn’t sure she had understood correctly, for her Japanese was still a little more basic than the rest of the children her age.

She was going to write something —probably a thank you— but it wasn’t necessary.

“You’re welcome.” And he gave her the sweetest smile she had ever seen. She couldn’t help but blush.

The rest of the class passed quick. Celty could feel a few kids watching her, but none of them tried to approach her. Shinra had a lot of things to say, so she didn’t have time to be self-conscious.

When the break arrived, Shinra all but pushed her to the door because he wanted her to meet his friends, but the teacher tried to intervene.

“Shinra-kun, I know you are trying to make Celty-chan feel welcome, but maybe she would prefer having lunch with other girls. You have only male friends, right?”

The boy laughed to the statement, and that only served to confuse Celty further.

“Don’t worry, sensei, Shizuo still had his arm in a cast, he can’t cause much trouble yet.” And he reassumed his mission of pushing Celty without giving their teacher a chance to respond.

Celty, a little intrigued as to why would a child need to have his arm in a cast not to cause trouble, followed Shinra to an empty classroom. Or well, almost-empty, for there were to boys sitting on the desks.

One had brown hair and a cast on his right arm, and she remembered his name was Shizuo.   
The other had black hair and reddish eyes. They were sitting next to each other and arguing, so she couldn’t tell if they were really friends or not, but the same sensation she had the first time she saw Shinra was back, and she was almost sure she had already seen these boys, even if the logical part of her brain knew it was the first time she saw them.

“Shizuo, Izaya, stop arguing for a minute. I’ve brought the most beautiful girl in the world to meet you.” Announced Shinra like it wasn’t something embarrassing to say.

Celty was so red she could put a tomato to shame. She had never been called that and wasn’t expecting to be introduced in that way.   
But the boys didn’t seem in to find it rare, in fact, they didn’t seem to have listened at all. They were looking at her in the same way Shinra had, and probably in the same way she had looked at them. She decided this would be as good moment as any to introduce herself.

[I’m Celty, it’s a pleasure to meet you.]

They didn’t seem surprised by her lack of voice, but she knew gossip could travel fast in schools.

“I’m Shizuo.” Said the tallest of the two. To Celty he didn’t look like a trouble maker. She would say he looked very shy.

“And I’m Izaya! You’re the daughter of the rich Sturluson family, right? You lived in Scotland until the car accident that made irreversible damage to your vocal chords. You mother’s family was from Japan, so your parents decided a change of scenery could do you good, and…” but before he could continue, Shizuo kicked the desk he was in, making Izaya fall to the floor.

“Could you not be a creepy asshole for five minutes? This is the reason we don’t have any other friends.” Recriminated Shizuo.

“Oh no, Shizu-chan. We don’t have more friends because your monstrosity scares away my beloved humans. You should be grateful you have friends at all.”

Celty couldn’t follow the conversation. Not only because there were words she didn’t understand, probably insults her teacher didn’t taught her for obvious reasons, but also because she hadn’t processed everything Izaya had say before.

[How do you know all of that?] She wrote and waited until they read it.

“Oh, that was where I was going before being interrupted. Your mother told mine, they are good friends. In fact, we live in the same street, didn’t your mother tell you about the Orihara family?” He was back on his feet, but this time he sat in the same desk as Shizuo, not wanting to go back to the floor.

Celty had indeed heard about that family. Her mom told her they were also a rich family that had three kids, one of them her age, but they hadn’t met her because their two-years-old-twins had been sick, and Izaya’s mother didn’t trust him to meet Celty alone. Now she understood why.

“Here, take it” Shizuo said, offering her a chocolate. “Mom always says it’s good the share food with my friends, and you deserve it after having to meet the louse…” she assumed he was referring to Izaya, but he didn’t seem offended in the slightest.

Celty took the chocolate with a smile, grateful they were treating her like a normal person. Even Izaya’s comments were refreshing. No one dared to mention the accident in front of her in her house.

The rest of the lunch time was interesting, to say the least. After a lot of teasing, Shizuo also gave Izaya chocolate, but that one was dark, because Izaya didn’t like sweet things.   
They included Celty in all the conversation, even though they were far from normal, that being mostly Shinra and Izaya’s fault.   
No one came near them, and Shinra explained it was because they were afraid of Shizuo, but she didn’t mind.

It was comfortable. They were all weird in their own way. Shinra kept talking about dissecting Shizuo, and the other boy threatened him of throwing him out of the window. Izaya kept talking about humans like he wasn’t one, and Celty started drawing things instead of writing what she was thinking. It didn’t work, but they all had a good laugh.

It was easy, it felt like they were returning to an old routine.

“Isn’t it annoying to have to write everything?” Shizuo asked her. He was very blunt, she liked that.

[Yes, a lot. I’m going to learn Japanese Sign Language, but very few people know it anyway, so it won’t do a big difference.]

“We could learn it” proposed Shinra. “Izaya is really good at languages, he already knows English and Russian, he could help Shizuo, he’ll definitely have a hard time learning it.”

Shizuo didn’t like the insinuation he was stupid but accepted it anyway if that would make things easier for Celty. Izaya agreed too.

It was a surprise. No one had offered doing something so difficult for her, but they just decided it so naturally. And she was sure they would really do it.

When they had to go back to their classroom, she felt a lot more comfortable with Shinra, to the point of letting him take her hand, and they spent all the class writing silly notes to each other.

When the class ended, the teacher asked her to talk with her alone.

“Celty-chan, I know you’re trying to be friendly with everybody, and that’s good, but maybe you should put a little of distance between you and Shizuo-kun and Izaya-kun… they’re quite the troublemakers, I’m sure you can find better friends.”

[Thank you for your concern, sensei, but I’m perfectly capable of choosing my own friends.]

She walked out of the classroom without giving the teacher another glance.

The driver took her home and told her that her mother would arrive in time for dinner, but her father would arrive much later. One of the maids took her bag to her room, and she followed.

She decided to start her homework, that way she would finish before dinner. Two hours later she was already finished and was killing time by reading. Everything was in silence, so the abrupt knock in her window scared her a lot.

She stood up and opened the curtain, just to find Izaya already opening the window and entering in her room. She looked out of the window just to confirm that he had, in fact, climbed the wall to her room, that was in the third floor, and didn’t die in the process.

She started looking around for her board, but Izaya started talking before she could find it.

“Don’t bother, I’m sure I can guess your questions. Yes, climbed all the way here, no, it wasn’t to kidnap you. I came to warn you, Shizu-chan got in a fight in his way home, even with the cast, so probably your mother already heard about him. From what I heard, your mother is very conservative in regard of the people, so maybe you want to keep your friendship with him a secret.”

Celty stared at him for nearly a minute in complete silence.

“I’m not mind reader, but if you are asking why I am warning you, it’s because I feel like we can all be good friends, and Shizuo would feel guilty if that opportunity went away because of him. Any other question? I know I live just three houses away, but I should go before they realize I’m not there, and my room is in a fourth floor.” It didn’t seem like he had intention of answering more question, but still waited for her to nod before going back to the window and started climbing down.

If Celty could scream, she would have probably done so. She followed him with the gaze until he disappeared inside of a house in front of hers. And he did have his room in the fourth floor. 

For a moment she wondered what to do with the information. Izaya didn’t seem like a trustworthy person at all, but something in her trusted him anyway. And she didn’t want to risk losing the friendships she had just made, so she decided she would listen to him.

A few minutes later she was called for dinner, so she took her board and went to the kitchen. Her mother was already there, even if Celty hadn’t heard her arrive, but she wasn’t about to complain.

[Hello, mother, how was your day?]

“Very good, sweetheart, but I should ask you that. How was your first day in school?” she asked before starting to eat her dinner.

[Good, everyone was very kind with me.]

“You did any friends?”

She hesitated for a second and wrote.

[Yes, two boys. Shinra Kishitani and Izaya Orihara, though I don’t know how to write their names.]

Recognition shined in her mother eyes, and Celty wanted to think it was good.

“Orihara? How wonderful. His mother and I are close friends, she’s a very hard-working woman. I’m glad you made a friend from such a good family, and I guess is also good you made more than one.”

The continued eating in silence for a few minutes.

“Celty, sweetheart, do you met a boy named Shizuo? Seichii, Namie’s father, told me he’s in your year, and I heard he was in a pretty big fight, please don’t go near that guy, obviously his parents have done a horrible job raising him.”

Celty was so mad for hearing that, that she missed the way her mother bit her lip, something she only did when she lied.

She was thinking about how kind had Shizuo been with her, and how his mother sent him chocolate for him to share, and how he agreed to learn a whole new language just for her sake, even though they had only known each other for half an hour.   
But she didn’t want to enter in confrontation with her mom.

[I didn’t meet him, he goes in another classroom.]

“Well, I hope it stays like that.”

The rest of the meal was in an uncomfortable silence. Or at least it was that way for Celty, she had a feeling her mother didn’t notice the change in the atmosphere.

“By the way, I found the book for sign language you wanted. But are you sure it’s worth it? You’re still learning regular Japanese, and nobody knows this anyway.”

Celty had already thought about that. She would still need to carry her board everywhere she went. But she remembered the three boys who offered to learn it for her and if she could at least really talk with her friends, she decided it would be worth it.

[I’m sure. But can you buy 4 books? A few friends said they wanted to learn it too.]

Her mother face decayed the moment she saw the number and sighted with a resignation Celty didn’t understand. But she soon composed herself and brought a smile back to her face.

“Of course, anything for my dear daughter.”


	2. Book of Childhood: Knowing each other

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing important had happened, after all.

Shizuo's strength was... impressive, to say the least. Shinra and Izaya had already told her that. In fact, Izaya was always blabbering about why Shizuo was a monster, and she had seen plenty casts and bandages result of the fights Shizuo always got himself into, but she would have never imagined this.

He stripped a fricking stop sign out of the pavement!

They were walking from school to Izaya's home, the only one Celty was allowed to go. At the beginning Celty feared walking home without an adult, having never been alone in the street, but it seemed Shizuo and Shinra did it all the time, so she lied to her mom and told her the Orihara's driver picked them up from school. It was a routine, they did it at least one or twice a week since they met, already five months ago.

And nothing had ever happened, until today.

A few guys armed with bats and pipes started screaming Shizuo's name and something about getting revenge. Shinra took her hand, unimpressed about the events, and pulled her behind the trash cans, Izaya behind them.

“What's happening?” she signed, her hands shacking in fear. Those people seemed dangerous and angry.

“They want to fight Shizuo.” Explained Shinra.

“They're from one of the gangs that insist on attacking Shizu-chan, you're finally gonna see the monster.” Izaya sounded far too excited in Celty's opinion.

But boy, was he right.  She couldn't take her eyes off the fight because Shizuo, a guy who was only eleven, beat a whole gang up in a matter of minutes. She didn't remember having seen so much blood. It was like a scene taken from an action –or horror- movie. She was certain that, if she could scream, her voice would have been heard in all of Tokyo.

The worst part however, was that she wasn't really surprised. She didn't expect that, and she was afraid of Shizuo getting hurt, but the particular fact of Shizuo being able to beat 8 guys, all taller and with more muscle than him, alone. She should be stunned, she shouldn't believe what her eyes just saw, but truth to be told she wasn't even curious. 

And it would be a long time until she realized she hadn't even asked Shizuo why he could do that.

When all the attackers had left, Izaya was the first to go running to Shizuo and... hugged him from behind. For someone who claimed to love all humans, he wasn't at all upset that a “monster” had beaten up quite a few of them.   
Celty had already given up in trying to keep up with what was Izaya thinking, he was far too contradictory with himself.

“A marvelous sight for Celty, Shizu-chan, she finally saw what you can do.” The playfulness in his voice was completely out of place, but it seemed to snap Shizuo back to reality.   
  
He turned back to Celty, embarrassed and guilty for having made her afraid. For thinking he had made her afraid of him.  
And that's the thing, she wasn't. Every normal person should be, but she wasn't. Shizuo's strength was something out of this world, for sure, but she didn't feel it was that big of a deal. Maybe she was just as bad in the head as Shinra and Izaya.

“Are you alright?” She asked, concerned.

He was quiet for a few seconds, probably trying to remember what those signs meant, and Izaya's tutoring seemed to be doing its work because he smiled at her, relief clear in his face.

“Yes, I think so. But I may have sprained my ankle...” He hadn't stopped talking when Shinra was already revising his ankle, taking just a few seconds to confirm that, indeed, it was probably sprained.

“Knowing you it'll heal alone. Izaya has a first aid kit at home, I can at least bandage it.”

“I think he's the only one who has ever used that kit.” Izaya teased, then he put Shizuo's arm over his shoulder. “Don't put too much pressure on that feet, lean on me.”

Shizuo did as instructed and resumed their journey to Izaya's home. Celty picked up his backpack form where Shizuo had left it on the floor and started walking behind them, followed quickly by Shinra.  
   
They were going slower, but none seem to mind. They went back to talking about anything that came to mind until they arrived to their destiny, as if nothing important had happened. As if Celty had not seen something impossible.

When they were finally at the Orihara's household, Izaya helped Shizuo to take a sit in the living room and then went to the bathroom for the first aid kit.  
Shinra prepared Shizuo's ankle to be bandaged, and Celty just took everything upstairs to Izaya's room, because it was Friday and they had no homework to do.

“Are you sure you shouldn't go to the doctor?” she asked when she came back to the living and saw Shinra already with the bandages in his hand.

“You...go...doctor...” whispered Shizuo to himself, trying to place together the sentence in his head. “oh, don't worry, it'll heal itself in a few days.”  
  
“Shizuo has also an inhuman recuperation. He can heal a broken bone in like, two weeks. You should really let me dissect you, just imagine what awesome things could I discover!” Added an excited Shinra, who was hit for his comment just seconds after.

“If you come near me with a knife, you’re a dead man.” was all the verbal response he got, but the look in his friend eyes made clear that it was not up to discussion.

Shinra let out a sight of resignation and resume his work in silence.

Izaya came back to the room in that moment with a tray full of sandwiches and cookies and left it in the desk in front of the sofas.

“The cook prepared this by my mother's instructions, she left a note saying she would be home late and that she took my sisters with her. Look like our movie's marathon won't have parent's restriction!” He announced jumping around before taking his place next to Shizuo.

Celty didn't understand what the big deal was, Izaya's mother never cared for what were they seeing. They could be watching some T-rated movie and she would only be concerned if their screams distracted her from her work or woke the twins.

She took her place in the middle of the sofa, with Shizuo on one side and Shinra on the other, and let her friends decide the movie they were going to start with.

She took one of the sandwiches Izaya had brought and started eating, she was really hungry, followed a few seconds after by the rest of the kids, who were as starving as her. In the end the guys settle for starting with some action movie that was on tv in that moment. She also liked action movies, especially when people drove some cool cars or bikes.

And that's why she found it so weird when her eyes started feeling heavy, and it became harder and harder to be awake. A quick glance to her sides showed her Shinra and Izaya were in a similar situation, and Shizuo was fast asleep already, his head resting on Izaya's.

“Why...am I so sleepy?” Wondered out loud Shinra between yawns, before re-accommodating himself so he could rest his head in Celty's shoulder and surrender himself to the sleep.

Every passing moment was making Celty more difficult to keep her eyes open, and she didn't see the point of keep resisting. Besides, the couch they were in wasn't that big, so the four of them were sitting pretty close to each other, and that provided the perfect warm for a nap.

“Don't fall... asleep, Celty” she could hear in the distance. She could guess the voice was from Izaya, he was the only other one awake at this point, but the thing that caught her attention the most was that he sounded almost afraid.  
  
But even like that, she had already lost the battle and fell soundly asleep.

 

“Does her mother already know?”

“Yes, she doesn't like it, but she accepted it was impossible to have them in the same school and keep them apart. Anyway, this make our labor easier”  
  
In some part of her mind, she recognized one of the voices as Kyouko Orihara, Izaya's mom, but the other voice wasn't familiar at all for her.

She tried to open her eyes, but she was still so tired... Even when she felt a pinch in her arm, she couldn't bring herself to move at all.

“Was that the last blood sample we needed?” asked the unrecognized voice.

“Yes. We can't use it for anything to important anyway, the narcotics are on all of their bodies. This is just a little checkup routine.”

Blood sample? What were they talking about?”

“Pass me the blanket, we don't want Shinra or Izaya to catch a cold.”

Celty felt a soft cloth, the blanket she guessed, covering her.

“The other two can't get sick?”

“No.”

The softness brought her closer to the edge of sleep once again. She didn't understand what they were talking about anyway, and she could ask them in the morning, right?  
She cuddled back with Shinra, who was practically clinging to her, and fell asleep in a matter of seconds.

 

 

The next time she woke up, was because she was hit with a cushion in the head.

“Sorry, Celty, I was trying to wake Shizu-chan, but he sleeps like a beast in hibernation.” She opened her eyes and saw Izaya, who was trying to escape from the embrace Shizuo had him in, without any results.

She was going to shake Shinra to make him wake up, when the blanket over them made her remember the happens of the previous night. She caught Izaya's attention before asking him.

“Why did you told me not to fall asleep yesterday?”

“What? I didn't say anything” he responded, genuinely confused by Celty's question. “You must have dreamt it.”

Dreamt it? She didn’t think so but... it made sense. She had a really weird dream last night, it was something about blood... and Izaya's mother, but she couldn't remember what it was about, it was all too fuzzy in her head.

While she was thinking, Izaya managed to wake Shizuo and Shinra, and just in that moment did Celty remember she wasn't supposed to spend the night here. But, before she could even start to panic, Kyouko entered in the room.

“Look at this, you finally woke up. I though kids were supposed to have lots of energy, but you were already asleep when I arrived at eight."

Celty immediately shook Shinra's arm, she needed him to ask the woman about her mother, but Kyouko seemed to understand just by seeing her face.

“I called your parents and told them you were spending here the night, it was too much trouble to wake you up and take you home. The boys will walk you home after breakfast.” And before Celty could thank her, she was already going upstairs.

Celty was a bit nervous, because her mother didn't know Shizuo was also her friend. But she assumed that if she let her spend the night, Kyouko hadn't told her about the identities of the rest of her friends.

“What happened to your arm, Izaya?” Shinra's voice drove her back to the present from her thoughts.

She turned to see her friend's arm, and she saw what was Shinra referring to. It was like a little poke in the inner part of his elbow, with a few drops of dry blood in its surroundings.

Izaya, who had just realized he had that, was looking curious at it. Shizuo was a bit more concerned because of the blood, but Celty was thinking she knew what that was. She knew it, she was sure, but she didn't remember it.

It was as if the answer was in front of her, but it escaped right through her finger. And she was about to tell the boys that, when Izaya spoke and his voice resonated in her head.

“It must be a mosquito bite, it's not a big deal.”

They were quite for a few seconds, before the others nodded, as if they had been thinking the same. They were thinking the same, after all.

A mosquito bite? Yes, that must be it, it's the logic explanation to it.

And like that they went to the kitchen to have breakfast, forgetting all about that morning, and that night, and the previous day.

Nothing important had happened, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter!


	3. Book of Childhood: The First Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And, in the morning, they didn't discuss what happened there, nor what happened in the party. It didn't cross their minds and, even if it had, they would have discarded it as a crazy dream.
> 
> Things like that didn't happen, after all.

“Mother, why is Izaya the only one of my friends that's coming?”

“Oh, the rest couldn't make it, they already had plans.”

Celty knew that was a lie. Shizuo and Shinra had been very excited about her birthday, they wouldn't have allowed their parents to make other plans. But she knew better than to try and point that out to her mother.

She had been so excited about her birthday party. Her mother organized really boring parties, where she had to dress up and everyone had to act like adults, but at least she had hoped her friends would be there to suffer with her.

The timbre ringed, and Celty knew who was immediately. The party didn't start in another hour, and the only one rude enough to arrive so early to another house would be Izaya.  
That, and maybe Celty had begged him to arrive extra early to make sure she wouldn't be alone with any of the other kids. It's not like she had a bad relationship with any of them, and even if she had Izaya wasn't exactly popular among their classmates either, but she was too nervous every time she was left alone with any of the other kids.  The reason, she didn't know.

“Hello, Celty, I see I'm the first one to arrive, Shinra will be so jealous. Not that he has a reason to, my love is equal to all humanity, but he's irrational like that.

Celty knew that if she didn't stop him, he could keep rambling for hours, so she stepped in.

“He's not coming.” Izaya's face was clearly intrigued. “Neither is Shizuo.”

For a moment, she saw as clear as the day the deception in his eyes, but it was gone before she could even think about mentioning it.

“And why aren't they coming? Last time I knew, none of them were in the hospital.” Celty started to appreciate the discomfort that the suit Izaya wore give him. He was trying to dissimulate it, but she knew him too well not to notice the slightly less grace in his movements. The known that they were both equally uncomfortable in this type of parties make her relax enough for her to share him her theories.

“My mother still doesn't like them, I think she didn't invite them on purpose and she told me she did just so I didn't bother her with it.” Of the four friends, Izaya and her were the most fluent with the sign language, so she didn't have to wait to obtain a reaction.

Izaya's laugh always made her uneasy for some reason, maybe because it sounded too fake, but she had never heard him laugh in another way, so it would be hard for her to tell if it was really fake or just obnoxious. Still, she smiled to brush the seriousness off the matter. It wasn't like she had evidence or anything.

An hour later, the rest of the guests, including Izaya's sisters, started to arrive. Celty greeted them all politely, even though it was obvious none of them really wanted to be here. Again, her mother had invited all the people “suited” to be her friends.   
And this borings parties her mother organized seemed to be more for an adult than a 11-years-old-girl, but from what Izaya had told her, all the children here had the same type of parties.

“Not that I go or anything. My mother stopped making me go after all the problems I caused at Erika's last party. Apparently, only Namie found amusing my methods of entertainment.”

She was about to ask exactly what those methods were, but she finally decided against it. She wanted to be able to sleep under the same roof that him without having to fear for her life.

Even if it was almost a formal party, the smaller kids were running around and chasing each other. Mairu, Kururi, Seiji and Mika seemed to be the only ones having fun, even though Namie and Izaya had a bet going on in who could resist for longer the temptation of making a mess.

“I don't get it. You said your mother stopped making you go to parties because you wouldn't behave, why do it now?” Celty asked Izaya after one hour since the bet started.

“Considering the amount of time we spend in each other's presence, it would be highly inconvenient for your parents not to like at least one of your friends. Not that I care too much, but Shizu-chan and Shinra are awfully conscious about that.”

Celty was about to reply, probably teasing him for insisting on pretend he didn't care for his friends, but a scream in the room paralyzed her.

“STOP!”

For a few seconds, her body was completely still. And not only hers, she saw the same rigidity on Izaya's body. It wasn't like anything she had ever felt. It wasn't fear, she literally couldn't move, it was as if someone had taken her control of her body away, living her with a stiff body that made impossible for her to even breath. But just as fast as it came, it had gone away.

Celty hadn't though yet the first question to ask, when the perplexity on Izaya's face made her realize something even rarer that the loss of control over their body they had had.

That scream. It had been Namie.

Namie's impassibility, her lack of apparent emotion, and her careful act of superiority had never wavered. She had never heard Namie raise her voice, more less scream.

Immediately, she turned around to look for the girl, and saw her with the most expressive expression she had seen on her face. And the cause of her fear was just a few meters away, where Seiji had been just about to crash with one of the servants. Who was carrying a very sharp scissors on his hand.  The color drained of Celty's face when she understood what was just about to happen.

Namie was the moment after at her brother's side, hugging him and checking if he was alright, even though they all knew he didn't have a scratch. Because her scream had paralyzed him, even when he was about to lose his balance. And that returned Celty's attention to what had happened just moments before.

Now she could move the entirety of her body, but it still felt heavy, as if whatever had happened was supposed to last longer and its precipitated interruption had left the remains of heaviness in her.

She was so lost in her though, she didn't saw all the parents look at each other with evident worry, but none of them made an effort to go with Seiji, betraying that their worry wasn't him. And with further observation, one could have saw their eyes going discretely to Namie, and back to themselves. If you knew how to read people, it would have been obvious that they were also perplex at the apparent effect the scream had in everyone. But still, they were cautious with their gestures, in an evident attempt to dissimulate their astonishment.

If you thought about it with great care, you could come to the conclusion that even if Celty had seen it, she would have missed the information all of them had reveled with their conduct. You would need to know how to read people, and she didn't know how to.  
But Izaya knew.

And he hadn't missed a single second of it.

“Celty, you also felt it, right?” He whispered, in a voice so faint she had been sure at the beginning if she did hear it. But a look at her friend was enough for her to see he was waiting her answer.

She wasn't sure why he felt the need to whisper, when it was pretty obvious to her that they hadn't been the only ones, but she didn't want to risk anyone noticing their conversation, so instead of signing she only nodded really slow and discreet, so much that someone who wasn't waiting for a response wouldn't have notice.   
  
Izaya sighted, and it was enough for her to know he had understood.

For a long minute, everyone was in silence. All the children too afraid to ask (Afraid of what? Celty wondered later), and the adults... Celty didn't know, but they also were in a tense silence.

When the minute ended, Celty's mother entered the room with the cake behind her, being carried by other servants.

“Okay, everyone, it's time to cut the cake!” And just as if the words had been orders by a general, everyone went back to their place in the table, ready to eat. And if Celty had wondered why all of them have obeyed so mechanically, she didn't elaborate in the question.

Everyone sang to her the Happy Birthday song in English, to her delight, and if she found funny most of her classmates and their sibling's accent when trying to sing in English, she didn't show it.

Her mother served the cake to all the kids, and they were so excited for the delicious cake, no one really noticed they were the only ones eating. Even Izaya, who didn't like sweet things, was enjoying his portion of cake. So, it was only natural that after all of the emotion, they had started to feel sleepy, right?

No one complained when everyone started to go home, the first one being Namie and Seiji, because the girl could hardly mutter a farewell to Izaya without yawning. When everyone except for Izaya and Celty was gone, her mother came with an announcement.

“Izaya, your mother called, she had a last-minute meeting and can't come pick you up, but you can stay the night here, one of the servants of your house came with a bag with a change of clothes and your pajama. It's in the bathroom of the second floor.”

When Izaya asked the next morning were where his sisters, and he was told that they had left with Mika to spend the night with her, he would accept that yes, he had a vague memory of that. But in that moment, he was losing the battle against sleep, and so he didn't notice that if he was still here, his sister should also be there.

And so, he just nodded and went to the indicated bathroom to change, while Celty went to her room to also put her pajamas on, too tired to bath. She was brushing her hair one last time before going to bed when Izaya entered in the room after knocking. He had already spent the night a few times in the sofa that was also in her room.

She could still remember the comment Shizuo had made the first time he came about her room being bigger than his entire apartment. Shinra ensured her Shizuo was exaggerating, but she hadn't minded the comment. She knew her friend wasn't bitter about it, and he was just making a comment his usual bluntness.

“Where are the extra blankets?” half-asked and half-growled Izaya. She just pointed her closet and went straight to her bed.

She was sitting on her bed, waiting to turn off the lights, when she could see a struggling Izaya trying to reach the pillow, that was too high for him. She tried to dissimulate her amusement, but he wasn't even glaring in her direction. In an inconscient movement, she reached with her hand in the direction of the pillow. The first thing she saw was something back..., like a shadow, going in that direction. She opened her eyes in surprise, and the next thing she saw was not only the pillow, but also a good amount of her clothes falling over Izaya. Her first instinct was too look around for the shadow, but she couldn't see anything.

Her second instinct was to go help her friend. It wasn't like he could get hurt by only clothes, but it was, without a doubt, a disaster.

“What did you throw to make everything fall? I didn't see you had anything within your reach.” He didn't sound mad, but he did sound a little annoyed. And sleepy. It was incredible how not even this was able to wake them up.

“I didn't throw anything.” She signed in response. He looked at her with an impassible expression, which she attributes at the fact he didn't believe her.

“Look around. If I had thrown something, it should be on the floor, right?”

He looked a little frustrated he hadn't thought of that himself but didn't complain further and started putting everything in its place again with her help. When they finished and he didn't find anything, he had gone from being annoyed to just being really confused.

“But if you didn't, why did everything collapse?”

She just shook her head, she was just as confused.

When they finally finished, she went back to her bed and Izaya went to the sofa. But, even when she was so exhausted, Celty just couldn't fall asleep. Her brain was desperately trying to tell her something, but she didn't want to understand.

Until she did. It was the shadow, that thing had made everything fall. How hadn't she realized?

Izaya was already sound asleep when he felt a hand shacking his shoulder. He opened with a lot of effort his eyes, just to see Celty standing in front of him. She looked just as tired as him, so why the hell was she still awake?

He saw she had her blackboard in her hand, and she turned on the light it had. Izaya's eyes took a moment to adjust to the new light. The first thing he saw was that, in fact, Celty's eyes were almost closed, and second, that she had written something on it.

He took a few moments in comprehend it, because Celty was so tired she had written it in English, and even if Izaya was almost fluent in it, he wasn't awake enough to process it like he would normally do.

[You believe me I didn't throw anything, right?]

It was incredible. Was she really awake because of that? Honestly, Izaya didn't care. If it wasn't her fault, then he probably had made the clothes fall, and if it did was her, he cared even less. It wasn't as if their friendship had left the four friends unscathed.  Specially him and Shizuo.

But Celty looked so determined, it was obvious that she thought this was of completely importance, and she was stubborn enough to try and discuss it If Izaya didn't believe it, even when both of them were no near conscient enough to maintain a proper conversation.

“Yes, Celty, I believe you. And in the morning, we can discuss all the reasons for the clothes to fall over me, okay? Now go to sleep.”

He saw a slow nod on her part, and she turned the light off again. The moment Izaya heard her climbing her bed again, he was fast asleep again. He had a dreamless night.

And, in the morning, they didn't discuss what happened there, nor what happened in the party. It didn't cross their minds and, even if it had, they would have discarded it as a crazy dream.

Things like that didn't happen, after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit I took a little too long with this chapter, sorry. I will try to update at least two times in December!

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here we go! My first long fic for this fandom. I dont have a shedule for updating, but I will try to update two or three times a month, maybe more, but I dont want to make promises I cant keep.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, I am really excited about writing it! I have always wanted read this four being childhood friends, and if you want something done, you have to do it yourself.
> 
> If you find any mistake, feel free to tell me in the comments!


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